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This chapter studies the links between modernity and genocide through the idea of social memory. It argues that Nazi racial aesthetics have persisted in German cultural memory and are apparent in a number of sociopolitical forms. It also discusses an issue that is often ignored in genocide studies, namely the effect of genocide on perpetrators and bystanders and their descendants. This chapter shows that right after the Holocaust, Germans reacted to their embarrassing and painful legacy with denial, embarrassment, and silence.

This chapter studies the links between modernity and genocide through the idea of social memory. It argues that Nazi racial aesthetics have persisted in German cultural memory and are apparent in a number of sociopolitical forms. It also discusses an issue that is often ignored in genocide studies, namely the effect of genocide on perpetrators and bystanders and their descendants. This chapter shows that right after the Holocaust, Germans reacted to their embarrassing and painful legacy with denial, embarrassment, and silence.